On Tuesday, four petitions were submitted to the National Assembly asking that the four IEBC commissioners who repudiated the results of the presidential election on August 9 be removed from their positions.
Juliana Cherera, vice chair of the IEBC, and Commissioners Irene Masit, Francis Wanderi, and Justus Nyagaya are all accused of flagrant violations of the constitution and ineptitude in the petitions submitted by the Republican Party, Rev. Dennis Ndwiga, Geoffrey Langat, and Owour Jerry.
The petitioners want Parliament to urge President William Ruto to convene a tribunal and remove the four from office.
Additionally, they demand that the commissioners accept personal responsibility for their boycott of the August 9 presidential election results.
The Republican Party petition states, in part, “They should accept personal accountability for the reasonably foreseeable consequences of any actions or omissions deriving from the fulfillment of the duties of the office.”
According to Rev. Ndwiga’s petition, “the four commissioners grossly erred by disowning the results and calling a meeting ostensibly to appoint counsel to represent the commission in the presidential petition.” The four commissioners were accused of “failing to follow the guidelines on the declaration and tallying of the presidential results.”
For his part, Langat urged Parliament to take the petition under consideration, stressing that if the House decided the four should be removed from office due to the charges made against them, President Ruto should be notified and take proper action.
The discussion of the petitions followed the well-worn political path, with MPs adopting party stances to either accept or reject the claims made by the four plaintiffs.
Opiyo Wandayi, the head of the minority, and Kimani Ichung’wa, the leader of the majority, had different opinions on whether or not the House should consider the petition.
Ichung’wa refuted Wandayi’s assertion that the issues raised in the petitions are irrelevant because they are previously known to the public and as such are of no import.
“After the election is over, the nation continues. So let’s avoid acting as though the election campaign is still going on. When our side appeared in court, the judge called us “hot air.” We acknowledged and moved on, so let’s everyone do the same “MP Millie Odhiambo for Suba North
Speaker Moses Wetangula has offered the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee the option to request an extension if they are unable to finish the assignment within the allotted window of 14 days for reviewing the petitions.
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